Veteran and State Employee Runs for State House Office, Nashua Ward 2

SEIU Local 1984 of New Hampshire announced on September 8th the candidacy of one of their own, Gloria Timmons, for State Representative, Nashua Ward 2.

We re-post the write-up about her history from the SEIU website:We’re proud of the many SEA/SEIU Local 1984 member candidates for state office this fall. Over the last few weeks, we’ve been featuring some who are facing challengers in the Sept. 13 statewide primary.

Gloria Timmons

Gloria Timmons, a member of Chapter 1, spent nearly two decades of her second career working for New Hampshire Employment Security (NHES). That came after her first career, serving 22 years in the U.S. Army. She’s looking to continue her long career of public service as a state representative in Nashua’s Ward 2.

During her state service, Timmons was active with SEA/SEIU Local 1984. In addition to serving as a steward for 17 years, she was a councilor and a member of numerous committees. She said she brought a lot of her military experience with her into state service, and she ultimately retired as assistant director of NHES.

“My military service made me stronger and disciplined,” she said. “A lot of people would probably say I was too military, but I just felt that when you have a job, you do that job. I come from the school that says you do what you need to in order to get the job done.”

Timmons said in her experience, less division between management and workers leads to better outcomes, especially when both sides are truly listening to each other.

“There were situations where, if you’d ask the workers, things might have come out a bit better because you would have been getting the perspective of the boots on the ground,” she said.

Unsurprisingly, veterans affairs is a major issue for Timmons in her campaign. The Cold War and Desert Storm veteran pointed out that former military members like her have to travel all over New England for specialty care, and there aren’t enough resources for returning veterans.

“I don’t believe we’re taking care of the vets coming back from Afghanistan, and we should never have homeless veterans,” she said.

In addition to her state and military service, Timmons has been involved in many community groups. Still, she said she’s running for office because she’s tired of sitting on the sidelines, “watching the parade pass by.”

“I wanted to help people, do more for the community, to get involved,” Timmons said.

We hope that voters in Nashua’s Ward 2 will support Timmons in the state primary on Tuesday. You can find the entire list of SEA-endorsed candidates here.